Business registration to suffer as CAC staff down tools over welfare

The registration of new businesses will suffer setback as staff of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) shut down the commission over the inability of the management to reach an agreement with them on welfare and revenue generation among others.

As early as 7am yesterday, staff of the commission under the auspices of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service, Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) shutdown the CAC headquarters in Abuja bearing placards.

Inscriptions on some of the placards read, ‘Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ and ‘Management should think outside the box’.

Addressing journalists in front of the commission, the union’s chairman, Comrade Ibrahim Kirfi, said the strike action was a fallout of failed negotiations and engagements the union had with management.

The union had earlier issued a 7-day indefinite strike notice to the management and later extended it to 14 days which expired on Tuesday before the strike started yesterday.

Kirfi said there had been 9 per cent deductions in their salaries and the management had been embarking on foreign trips despite poor internally generated revenue and complaints of insufficient funds.

Speaking at the side-line of the protesting staff, the Deputy Director in Charge of Public Affairs, Mr. Godfrey Ike, told journalists that the management had been prudent in managing resources of the commission and had been paying salaries without delay.

He said management was doing its best to engage the protesting workers in dialogue and bring the industrial action to an end.

Speaking on the implications of the strike on the economy and business registration in particular, a lawyer, Barrister Nuhu Sambo, told Daily Trust that it would impact negatively on revenue generation for the federal government, on Nigeria’s image as an investment destination, the banking sector, industries and trading.

Barrister Sambo said if CAC is shut down for three days, the ripple effect would be huge and it would also indirectly shut down the economy.

He said it would affect the country’s image in the eye of international finance institution’s and the country’s position on the global index of ease of doing.

He called on all relevant parties to the CAC logjam to resolve the issues and open the Commission for activities in the interest of the economy and the image of the country.